


Happenstance

by lunalius



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Family, Johnny and Kun are in their early thirties, M/M, Single parents Johnny and Kun, Toddlers Donghyuck and Chenle, background dotae and yuwinil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 08:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15926777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunalius/pseuds/lunalius
Summary: Johnny, single father of one, gets another parent to look after Donghyuck in the playground while he has to rush home on a work errand. And Donghyuck makes a new friend.





	Happenstance

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't spent an extended amount of time around toddlers in a very long time, so I'm sorry if Donghyuck and Chenle don't seem like real three and four year olds. I do have a nine-month old puppy and I channeled a lot of my parental love for him into this fic. I hope it comes through.  
> Warning: alcohol consumption (all legal, nothing significant)

The first time Johnny and Kun meet, it’s not really a meeting so much as it is being in the right place at the right time.  

Johnny’s at a playground. He has Donghyuck for the week while his ex-wife takes an apparently well-deserved holiday in the Bahamas. Somehow he managed to get the week off – albeit, on condition that he remained on call at all times, but still. A whole week off to spend with his son; Johnny is thriving.  

Unfortunately, there are other parents there, or Johnny would have been following Hyuck down the monkey bars himself. The other parents sit on benches around the park or, in the case of one father, on a picnic blanket not far away from where Johnny was sitting. Johnny himself has a nice patch of grass and the book he’d been reading over the past few days that he’s already halfway through. Children yell and squeal around the monkey bars – Hyuck and another child the loudest of them all, Johnny notes with embarrassment – but it’s otherwise peaceful. 

So of course that peace has to be disturbed by the shrill ring of his mobile phone. Johnny groans, trying to ignore the other parents’ stares as he answers the call from his editor. “Yes?” 

“Listen, I know you have the week off–“ 

“You’re correct.” 

“Did you hear about the floods downtown? We’re knee deep in them right now and not even one person has a story ready for the 12 o’ clock.” 

“I find that hard to believe.” 

“Not a good story, and not someone who can write fast.” 

Johnny groans, “Yunho, I told you if you were going to call me in, I just want quick fluff pieces I can do in half an hour. Not a lead story!” 

“I wouldn’t be calling you if it wasn’t an absolute necessity. I know how much you want to spend time with your son.” 

“Yeah, and that’s exactly why I can’t go and do sudden recon. I need more notice!” 

“We’ve already got recon, I just need you to do a write-up.” 

“With someone else’s research?” 

“Would you like to spend time on your own research as well, then?” 

Johnny bites back a growl. From the corner of his eye, he can see that Hyuck has become less enthusiastic in his playing, throwing short glances his way. It makes Johnny feel like dirt. 

“Please, Johnny? I’ll pay you overtime.” 

“There’s absolutely no one else you can get on this?” 

“Not a single person. You’re the only one.” 

“…Fine. I’ll do it. But I’m working remotely, and you will not hold it against me if my internet connection is bust.” 

“Deal. You’re doing me a huge favour here, Johnny.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t forget it.” 

By the time he hangs up, Hyuck has already made his way over. 

“Are we going home?” he asks. 

“No,” Johnny smiles, patting his son on his head. “You can keep playing, sunshine. I’ll be back before you know it.” 

“Will I be alone?” 

Johnny frowns, and he’s forced to make a split second decision. “No.” 

He strides over to the closest parent – the man on the picnic blanket writing in his notebook, whom Johnny has suddenly realised is actually a little cute – and kneels down. “Hi.” 

The man looks up from his notebook, brown eyes big and warm and  _ wow, look at that face– _ “Hello.” 

“Can you look after my son for me? I have to be somewhere very quick.” 

“Oh!” The man blinks, “Yes, of course. Which one is he–?” 

Johnny realises that he didn’t bring Hyuck with him and momentarily panics until he sees Hyuck back on the bars. “There he is. The budding gymnast. He wanted to wear a skirt today.” 

Picnic man chuckles, and Johnny wants to hear it again. “I think it’s cute. I’m happy to look after your son for a while.” 

“Thank you,” Johnny breathes, “I won’t be more than half an hour. Thank you so much.” 

“Take care!” 

Johnny drives furiously to grab his laptop and other writing essentials (moleskine and fountain pen to get the grey cells moving, stress ball for the obvious reasons) when, just as he is about to leave his house and get back into his car, it starts to drizzle. 

And as he keeps driving, it starts to  _ pour _ . 

Johnny swears repeatedly under his breath as he drives the whole way because this shower was  _ not _ forecast, Hyuck wasn’t remotely dressed for the rain and right now he was with a man that Johnny had never seen until that day. He probably took his son home like any normal parent would and should. Is Hyuck with them? Is he still at the playground? Is he still playing? He’s going to catch a cold! 

When he shows up at the playground, everyone is gone and so is the man with the picnic blanket. Johnny doesn’t even bother with a the huge umbrella as he rushes out of the car, panicked, scanning the entire park and its surroundings for any sign of his son or the man he’d left him with. 

_ I should’ve got him that iPhone when he asked for it – _

A car horn startles him out of his apprehension and he swivels around to see a minivan on the other side of the playground – he squints: it’s an  _ Audi _ minivan – and through the rain he thinks he can somewhat see Hyuck’s outline inside. He darts back into his car for the umbrella and practically sprints across the park. 

“Donghyuck!” Johnny gasps when he pulls the door open. 

“Dad!” Hyuck is already waiting near the door and scrambles to pull Johnny into a hug. “Ew, you’re wet!” 

“Sorry, I had to punch a lot of raindrops to get to you.” Even at four, Hyuck barely finds it funny. He supposes it’s all part and parcel of being a father. “I have an umbrella for you.” 

He scans the car to find picnic man at the wheel, smiling sweetly at them. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come over to the car, but I wasn’t quite as ready to punch raindrops as you were.” 

“You’re an angel,” Johnny breathes, and he means it. Of course, any parent would have probably done the same, but Johnny is still grateful beyond words. He’s not sure what he’d have done if Hyuck had been left out in the rain to catch a cold. He’s not sure what his ex-wife would have done. “Thank you so much.” 

“It was no trouble! He and Chenle seemed to get along pretty well.” 

Johnny looks past Hyuck to see another boy of a similar age and feels bad for not noticing earlier. “Hi,” Chenle says shyly. 

“Hey there, kiddo.” Johnny smiles warmly. “Thanks for being Hyuck’s friend for today. I hope he didn’t annoy you too much.” 

“He told me his name was Sunshine.” 

“You weren’t supposed to tell him my real name, dad.” 

“Sunshine – or Hyuck – wasn’t too much trouble,” Kun interrupts. “It was lovely to have him. But you’d better get going if you two want to get home.” 

“Right!” Johnny’s forgotten himself again. He grabs Hyuck by the hand and leads him out of the car, wincing as the nice pair of shoes he bought him sloshes about in the rain. He should’ve thought of gumboots. “Thank you so much again!” 

Johnny waits for the “It was no problem, really!” before he shuts the car door and rushes the two of them back to his own SUV. 

They’re halfway home when Hyuck asks, “Can I play with Chenle tomorrow too?” 

Johnny realises he never got picnic man’s number.

...............

It’s the morning rush hour, and Johnny is running on three hours sleep. His piece for the day happened to be some developing story three timezones behind him, so he was up late at night trying to keep up with the latest developments. He handed it in not too long ago. He has to meet with his editor now. 

Why his meeting couldn’t have been slightly later so he could beat the crowd, he didn’t know. 

The two extra shots in his coffee don’t feel like enough. His arms are tired and back sore, even though he hasn’t been to the gym in almost a week. Everyone around him on the train is in varied stages of consciousness – Johnny can’t help but feel they were all in the same boat. Albeit most of them must do it everyday, but still. 

The train jerks and he feels something jutting into his back. There’s a mumbled “sorry” and when Johnny turns around to return a “no worries” – 

There he is. 

“Picnic man,” Johnny blurts out before he can stop himself. Picnic man raises an eyebrow and Johnny clears his throat. “Uh, I mean, you seemed like you were having a picnic and I don’t know your name…I remember your son’s name, Chenle? Did I get that right?” 

“Kun.” 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I’m not sure how I got it  _ that _ wrong.” 

“No, no! I meant my name is Kun. My son is Chenle. You’re right.” 

“Oh.” Johnny towers over him, but somehow he still feels small. “Well, it’s nice to bump into you.” 

“Literally.” 

Johnny smiles, “Literally.”

“Do you catch this train often?” 

“Hell no. I try to avoid travelling at this hour as much as possible. I’m a journalist so I’m usually working outside of office.” 

Kun lets out a soft sigh (and yes, okay, the sound was  _ adorable _ , Johnny always did have a weakness for cute things). “That’s fortunate. I’m in project management. It’s nine-to-five every day and then some for me.”  

“I have a friend who’s in project management too. At least you’re guaranteed weekends off?” 

“I have a lot of overseas clients so sometimes I’m on a conference call at three in the morning.” 

“Yikes.” 

“I know.” 

Conversation flows easily from there, but it never delves into anything too deep. They talk about work, they talk about the weather, they talk a little bit about the floods that forced Johnny to leave Hyuck in the playground that day. Johnny thinks he wouldn’t mind meeting Kun outside of their short coincidental run-ins. 

“Donghyuck mentioned wanting to see Chenle again.” 

Kun hummed. “Yes, I think they got along quite well. They were playing together even before you left.” 

“Oh, the other loud one was  _ yours _ ?” 

Kun looks away sheepishly, his mouth opening and closing as if he’s trying to figure out what to say. Johnny immediately feels like shit because he knows exactly how Kun is feeling. He wouldn’t change Donghyuck for the world but goodness, the boy really demanded attention wherever he went and not all of it was positive and some horrible part of Johnny wished he were more low-key and calm just so other parents wouldn’t judge him for it. But Johnny had promised himself, his ex-wife and Hyuck that he’d never hold the boy back from being completely himself. 

“It’s fine,” Johnny quickly adds. “Donghyuck is loud too. It’s nice that he can have someone that meets the standards he sets.” 

“Chenle actually gets told off my his preschool teacher for singing too loud every once in a while, so he can get shy. I spend a lot of time trying to convince him he’s doing nothing wrong.” 

“I bet Donghyuck would change his mind in a heartbeat.” 

“What preschool does Donghyuck go to? The one I send Chenle to is the only one in the area and I haven’t seen your son around.” 

“Oh, he doesn’t live with me. He’s with my ex-wife. They’re on the other side of town.” 

“Ah. That must be hard.” 

“It can be difficult, but we’re not on the worst of terms so I get to see him often enough. It works out better because my job can be quite demanding and her hours are much more stable.”  

“You’d be able to bring him around for a play-date then?” 

“Of course! I’d been meaning to ask about that anyway.” 

“Great! Then if you could just,” Kun shoves a hand into his blazer, fumbling around what Johnny assumes is one of many inner pockets, “Put in your contact details and I can shoot you a message. Do you have WhatsApp or something?” 

“I have an iPhone, so Messages works just fine.” Johnny quickly types in his name and number. “Fair warning though, sometimes I have creative bursts and won’t check my phone for a whole day.” 

Kun gasps. “In this economy?” He laughs, “Of course, I understand entirely.” 

“Good. I look forward to hearing from you then.” 

“I’ll contact you as soon as possible,” Kun glances at his phone, “Johnny.” 

Hyuck was going to get a kick out of this.

...............

Johnny is running late. He had a live stand-up for the evening news today and it kept getting delayed because of other apparently more important stories, and Yunho had him staying back to work on something for the eleven p.m., and now Hyuck has been waiting at Chenle’s house forty-five minutes longer than he has to. Johnny sent Kun a text explaining everything, of course, but considering Hyuck was there because Kun had offered to pick him up from school look after him while Johnny was at work so that Johnny wouldn’t have to pay for childcare – read: Kun was babysitting Hyuck for  _ free _ – he couldn’t overstep his boundaries like this. 

Johnny quickly pulls up Kun’s number on his Mazda’s bluetooth and the call connects quickly. “Hello?” 

“Hey Kun, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Thought I should let you know.” 

“It’s really no rush! The kids have just started dinner actually so it’s fine if you take longer.” 

“Dinner! No Kun, you didn’t have to make Hyuck dinner! I was planning on getting him takeout on the way home.” 

“Why get takeout when he can have a home-cooked meal? Besides, he said he was hungry.” 

“Oh god.” 

“It’s fine! There’s actually enough dinner for you as well, if you’d like to stay.” 

Stay?! With the man Johnny increasingly wants to buy flowers for every time they speak? (Which, for the record, is only ever to arrange play dates, and the only development from that has been Kun offering to babysit Hyuck after pre-school like a whole nanny.) 

(Maybe Johnny should buy him flowers just for that.) 

“Sure,” Johnny says anyway, “That’ll be nice.” 

After Johnny hangs up, he quickly calls Doyoung. Who doesn’t pick up, so he calls Taeyong. 

“Hey Johnny, you’re on speaker,” Taeyong says tiredly, which probably means he’s only just got back from work. 

“Taeyong, Doyoung. An attractive man has asked me to dinner, what do I do?” 

He hears Doyoung whisper an “oh my god” under his breath and Taeyong makes a noise that sounds like a weirdly masculine squeal. “You have a date?” 

“No, not a date. Hyuck made a new friend and he’s already eating dinner at his house, so his father said I could stay for dinner too.” 

“When did Hyuck make this friend?” Doyoung asks. 

“Uh, two months ago. The father and I have been in touch.” 

“In touch?” 

“To arrange play dates and such. But today he offered to look after Hyuck so that I wouldn’t have to pay extra for evening care and that’s new.” 

Taeyong whistles. “Is he single?” 

“Well, he’s never mentioned a partner before. But he knows I’m single?” 

“Maybe you should get him a gift as a thank you. Some chocolates, or wine, or –” 

“I’m heading to the florist as we speak, but the wine’s a nice touch. I’ll drop by the liquor store.” 

“But don’t get him a wine that’s too nice, or he might make assumptions,” Doyoung added. 

“A good point.” 

“And don’t get roses.” 

“Of course I’m not going to get roses, Taeyong, I wasn’t raised in a barn.” 

Johnny chooses a bouquet of irises and a 2016 Sauvignon Blanc. Kun isn’t expecting either when Johnny presents them to him, but accepts his reasoning; Johnny is quite proud of how convincingly platonic his choices are. 

“So, do you live alone here, or…?” And Johnny is also proud that his voice isn’t shaking like he’s a high school freshman. 

“Oh yes, it’s just me and Chenle.” Kun takes a long sip of his soup. “Chenle’s mother passed away during childbirth.” 

Johnny feels his stomach churn. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” Kun gives him a pained smile. “She left me with Chenle, so she isn’t completely gone. Chenle was –” Kun lowers his voice, “He wasn’t intentional, but…I’d rather have him than not.” 

“I understand.” And Johnny does. Maybe not exactly what Kun is going through, but he does know he wouldn’t have gotten over his divorce quite so well if Hyuck hadn’t been around. “Chenle is a bright kid. So happy. You’re lucky to have him.” 

Kun gives Johnny a watery smile. “I think I am, too.” 

..................

Johnny learns that Kun is a hard shell to crack. 

He’s been trying to get him to take time to himself in the precious few moments that either of them can afford. Several times Johnny has suggested Kun go see a movie while he stays at home with the kids. He’s tried to arrange for a games night between the four of them on a Saturday evening. He even got Doyoung and Taeyong to look after the boys one day so he could take Kun out for drinks. But Kun always seemed to find some errand or important job for himself to do – usually on top of his overly demanding job, too. 

It’s especially bad lately since Kun apparently has some major project deadlines coming up. He works over-time and comes home to even more conference calls, so Lele spends most nights with Johnny even when Hyuck isn’t around. 

Lele is truly wonderful. Johnny marvels at how Kun raised him all on his own – he’s so polite, so humble, but not so stoic that he won’t laugh at Johnny’s stupid jokes and slapstick routines. He’s also at least ten times easier to parent than Hyuck is. Lele doesn’t give Johnny a backache. 

(Bless Hyuck’s soul, Johnny would never change him for the world, but every time he has Hyuck for the weekend, his migraines are killer and his back is sore for the rest of the week. If he has Hyuck for more than five days, it’s agony for the rest of the month.) 

Lele isn’t supposed to be sleeping over at Johnny’s tonight, but it’s nearly ten and Kun hasn’t even called let alone shown up. They’ve already had their dinner (the extra made for Kun had grown cold) and are curled up on the couch watching Disney’s  _ Hercules _ . 

“Dad sings the song to me sometimes before bed,” Lele admits. Johnny assumes he’s talking about ‘Go The Distance’, which has just finished, and which Chenle has just finished belting out fantastically. 

“Does he really? Does he sing it well?” 

“Mhm! Just like those ladies. Are they angels?” 

Johnny chuckles. “Not exactly. But they’re probably the ones who blessed your father if he’s that good. And hey,” Johnny pokes his nose, “Seems like he passed those blessings onto you.” 

Lele mumbles a bashful thanks in return. “Were you blessed too?” 

“Not as blessed as your dad, I’d assume.” 

“But you can sing well? Can you sing it to me before bed?” 

“Are you already inviting yourself to stay over, Lele?” 

Lele looks alarmed and Johnny immediately feels bad. “Of course you can stay over, kiddo. Any time. Your home is my home.” 

Lele breathes a sigh of relief, and Johnny thinks it’s absolutely the cutest thing he’s ever seen. “Good, because Hyuck’s room is really nice. I like the stars on the walls. Does he have that at his other house too?” 

“Yeah, he does.” 

“That’s so cool! I want one of those for my room. You think dad will get them for me?” 

“Maybe if you start brushing your teeth without him having to remind you,” Johnny chides gently, and Lele flushes. 

The more time he’s spent with Lele, the more he realises that maybe he doesn’t know  _ all _ that much about being a father, considering he was only one full-time for about two years. 

The doorbell rings abruptly and their quiet peace is ruined. Wondering who it could be at this time of the night, Johnny opens the door to find Kun, slightly frazzled and shoulders sagging, standing at his doorstep. “Hi.” 

“Come on in!” Johnny steps aside, letting Kun trudge inside. He’s never seen the other man like this before. He’s usually calm and put together, not a hair out of place, but right now his tie’s been loosened and his sleeves are rolled up and the bags under his eyes are worryingly prominent. 

“I’m so sorry I didn’t make it earlier,” Kun rushes out, sounding almost out of breath. “It’s been quite the day.” 

“Looks like it.” 

“Hey dad!” Lele practically jumps into his father’s arms, which are already held open for him. 

“Do you want something to eat? Tea?” 

“Oh no, I have to be going.” Kun pouts, running a hand over Lele’s head. “I have a conference call in –” 

Kun’s phone rings on cue and upon seeing the caller, Kun’s frown deepened. 

“Now?” Johnny asks. 

“Now. I’m so sorry, can I take it here? It’s urgent.” 

“Of course! I’ll show you to my study.” 

It’s only after Kun’s been in there for five minutes and Johnny and Lele have settled back in front of the television that Johnny realises his study is a wreck. It’s not that it isn’t usable – it just also happens to have everything Johnny’s ever used to plan his novel in there, and that half of the room is a mess. Hopefully Kun wouldn’t notice it. 

When Kun gets out an hour later looking worse for wear (and the movie is finished and Lele is fast asleep), Johnny has tea ready. He has a feeling Kun will need it. 

“I’m so,  _ so _ sorry.” Kun looks a little flustered as he approaches Johnny’s kitchen counter, accepting the cup of tea being pushed towards him. “Things in the project took a turn for the worse today, so I’ve been spending all day trying to make sure everyone is concentrating on fixing it.” 

“Tough team?” 

“Tough client.” Kun rubs his temples and Johnny almost reaches out to massage them for him before he reminds himself that that’s socially unacceptable. 

“Will you be up all night?” 

“Potentially. Unfortunately.” 

“Well, my study’s all yours, then. It’s right across from Donghyuck’s bedroom. Lele’s sleeping there right now.” 

“Stay? Goodness no, I couldn’t stay. That’d be too much!” 

“Nonsense! You’re not going to wake Lele up at this time of the night, and you’re too exhausted to be safely driving anywhere.” 

“When you put it that way…” 

“Relax, alright? It’s no problem for me, it’s nice having people over.” 

“I’m sure it gets lonely, a big house like this.” 

“I would have opted for an apartment if it wasn’t for Hyuck. He needs backyard space.” 

Kun lets out a quiet but weighty laugh. “Don’t I know it! He’s such a lively boy.” 

“Lively is one way of putting it.” 

“He’s a good kid, isn’t he?” 

“The best,” Johnny breathed. “If I’m allowed to say that.” 

“That’s what we all think.” Kun winks, “I’d say Hyuck is a close second to Lele.” 

“Reasonable,” Johnny grins, “But one day Hyuck’ll grow on you and then you’ll get to a point where you can’t choose.” 

“I’ll take you up on that.” Kun pauses to take a sip of his tea. “I’m not sure if I should ask, but that big whiteboard in your study – are you planning a novel?” 

Johnny’s eyes widened, “Yeah. You could tell?” 

“Mm. I write too.” 

Johnny frowns, thinking back across all their meetings over the past half a year for any sign that this could be true. As far as he’s Kun known, he’s been solely a working man, no time for much else other than looking after his son. And then he remembers – when they first met, Kun writing in a notebook, distinctly a Moleskine, with a fountain pen. “Ah.” 

“You seemed surprised for a bit.” 

“No, no! I mean I wasn’t quite expecting it –” 

“I’m not published or anything, but I write for fun. It’s been difficult to do so with Lele around, though.” 

“The motivation isn’t there?” 

“It isn’t. I’m just too tired.” 

Johnny snorts. “Single parenting, huh? Although you definitely have it worse.” 

“That I do. But I don’t mind so much as long as Lele is happy, you know?” 

Johnny thinks about all the times his plans to spend a precious day off writing went bust because Hyuck felt up to an ice cream or wanted to go for a drive. “Yeah, I know.”

...............

It isn’t so peaceful the next time Lele is under Johnny’s care. 

He’s clenching and relaxing his fists on a chair next to Lele’s hospital bed, Hyuck on his lap looking very, very upset. The other boy’s under moderate anaesthetics to keep him asleep and not complaining. Kun’s on his way, but considering the traffic from his workplace to the hospital is heading this way, it could be a while. 

The doctor says it’s only a hairline fracture in the wrist, which is easily fixed as long as it’s casted properly and Lele gives it the right rest. He could be in hospital for a few days. 

Johnny and Hyuck are sick with worry. 

“I didn’t mean to push him that hard,” Hyuck says quietly, voice watery and thick. It’s not the first time he’s said it today. It’s not the first time he’s been about to cry. 

“I know, sunshine. You just have to be more careful.” 

“Is Uncle Kun going to stop me from seeing Lele now?” 

“Hopefully not. But even if he does, you have other friends, don’t you?” 

“They’re no fun. Lele is louder than me.” 

Johnny can’t help but laugh. “Louder? That’s why you like playing with him?” 

“Yeah. And I like being in Uncle Kun’s house. He makes nice food and lets me eat ice cream before dinner sometimes.” 

Johnny’s eyebrows shot up. “He does?” 

Hyuck giggles, “No. But I made you scared, didn’t I?”  

“You little twerp,” Johnny growls, taking the opportunity to tickle his the boy’s sides till he’s laughing his little heart out. 

“Here he is, Mr Qian,” a voice says, and Kun rushes steps into their small private hospital room. Hyuck jumps off of Johnny’s lap, suddenly looking very solemn. 

“Oh god,” Kun breathes, rushing to Lele’s side to place a hand on his cheek. 

“Doctor said it was a hairline fracture, pretty common in children,” Johnny says quietly. Kun’s eyebrows raise to indicate he’s listening, but he never takes his eyes off his son. “It’ll take a while to fully heal but it’s definitely fixable.” 

“I’m so sorry, Uncle Kun! I didn’t mean to push Lele that hard, honest! We were playing and he was pushing me too! I didn’t see that the road was right behind him, I didn’t want to hurt him! Please don’t stop me from seeing him again, he’s my best friend!” 

Kun finally looks up, an amused smile on his face. “I won’t stop you from seeing Lele again, Hyuck. But he’s your best friend now?” 

“He doesn’t mind when I wear skirts.” 

Johnny’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “Hyuck, did someone say something at pre-school?” 

“No.” 

“Donghyuck,” Johnny states sternly. 

“There was a boy who said I wasn’t supposed to because I was a boy. I know I’m a boy but the skirt mom got me looks nice and feels comfortable.”  

Johnny exchanges a glance with Kun, who looks equally concerned. “That kid doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You can wear whatever you want.” 

“If it helps,” Kun adds, “Lele was very jealous of your skirt so he made me buy him a similar one too.” 

Hyuck’s eyes lit up, “He did?” 

“He did. But he’s too shy to wear it around you.” 

“No way, he has to wear it! Then we can match!” 

“Is that so? I’ll make sure he’s wearing it the next time you come over.” 

“Did you hear that, dad?” Hyuck asks, shuffling around in Johnny’s lap so he can look up at him, “He said next time!” 

“I told you so,” Johnny mumbles into Hyuck’s hair, and he exchanges a quick glance with Kun and mouths a “thank you”. 

...............

Johnny leaves Hyuck with Kun at the hospital ward, figuring he’d prefer to stay there. When he walks in the next morning, however, he finds Kun with his head in his hands and his son clinging to one of his shoulders. 

“I think he’s crying,” Hyuck whispers. 

“I’m not crying,” Kun protests, finally looking up at Johnny. His eyes are red and there have clearly been some tears. 

Johnny doesn’t know how to approach this. He isn’t entirely sure he can call Kun his friend – their children were friends and they helped each other look after them and they had dinner together pretty often and… alright, so maybe they could be called friends. But it was difficult to tell what was out of bounds and what was acceptable at this point of their relationship. 

Johnny makes a split second decision, quickly shooting a few texts around. Within half an hour Doyoung and Taeyong arrive at the room, accompanied by a nurse. 

“I’m sorry,” the nurse said, “But we can’t have this many people visiting at once –” 

“That won’t be a problem,” Johnny interrupts, “Kun and I are heading out for a bit.” 

Kun blinks. “What?” 

“You need a break.” 

“No! What are you talking about, my son is in hospital –” 

“He’s got a minor fracture that doesn’t require surgery, all Lele needs to do is rest. You’ve definitely been awake more than 24 hours now. My friends here are both teachers, they’ve helped me look after Hyuck before. If anything happens, they’ll call me.” 

“But –” 

“We’ll only be gone a short while.” 

“I can show you my Working With Children’s Check?” Doyoung adds unhelpfully, and Taeyong smacks his arm. 

Kun does eventually let himself be dragged out of the hospital and into a nearby café. He asks for a chamomile tea and Johnny pays. 

“You didn’t have to come with me, you know,” Kun sighs, once he’s taken his seat. He hasn’t said much the entire trip down. Johnny isn’t sure if he’s mad at him. 

“I needed to make sure you weren’t cheating and doing some errands or something. You seem like you have enough on your plate.” 

Kun groans, “I wasn’t crying about Lele, it was just –” 

“Stress. I’ve been there.” 

“Hm.” 

“You know what helps me? Actually sleeping when my son does so I can get some actual rest.” 

“Oh, like you don’t stay up to get your work done well past Hyuck’s bed time!” 

“I have to sleep  _ some _ time. And toddlers sleep forever when they finally do.” 

“I suppose…” 

“Oh Kun, you’re always so high strung. I know as a parent it can be hard to turn that off, but you’re heading for an early death if you keep this up.” 

Kun takes a long sip of his tea and Johnny takes the silence as either acknowledge or disagreement – either way he chooses not the push the issue. Ultimately, what Kun chooses to do is none of his business. (Sometimes Johnny wishes it was his business just so he could make sure the man could take better care of himself, but that raised a whole other issue that Johnny didn’t want to entertain.) 

He’s surprised when Kun speaks up again. 

“It’s hard,” Kun says quietly. He looks like he has more to say, so Johnny waits as he takes another long sip of his tea. “I wasn’t expecting to raise Chenle alone. I spent so long trying extra hard to be both a mother and father to him and now, it’s just second nature and I can’t turn it off.” 

Johnny nods, just so Kun knows he’s listening. He can’t entirely relate, of course – Hyuck did have a mother that he spent most of his time with. Kun’s situation is entirely different. But somehow Johnny understands needing to be two people at once for his son. Hyuck never sees his parents in the same place anymore and Johnny feels like he has to give him exponential love and care to make up for it. 

“We only moved to town a few weeks before we met, actually.”

This catches Johnny’s attention. He didn’t know this one. “Yeah?” 

“Mhm. In our hometown I had my parents and my friends to help me out. I don’t know anyone here outside of work.” Kun offers him a shy smile. “Meeting you has been a blessing, really.” 

This isn’t the first time Kun has made Johnny feel like a teenager with a crush, and he knows it won’t be the last. For the most part, Johnny is good at repressing it – he’s got many other things to worry about, after all – but a rare few moments like this make him feel like they’re the only two people in the whole world. 

“Likewise,” Johnny replies. It’s straightforward, concise, lacks any sort of connotation. Taeyong and Doyoung would be proud. 

“No, honestly.” Kun’s tone is a little more insistent this time. “Lele was really missing his best friend back home, so having Hyuck around has been really good for him. I’ve been worried about him being lonely. And gosh, all those times you offered to look after him while I had to work late…” Kun rests his chin in his hand. “Not sure what I’d do without you.” 

“Huh.” Johnny ignores the lump in his throat (he’s a happily single adult and he thinks this is quite ridiculous!). “Well, it’s really no problem. I’m a parent too, and it’d be nice if someone could do the same for me.” 

“Either way. It’s really appreciated. I don’t think I could possibly thank you enough.” 

“How about you thank me by taking some ‘me’ time and actually resting?” 

“If I  _ must _ .” 

...............

Johnny tries not to show how anxious he is when he returns to his seat at the diner, but Hyuck, Lele and Kun are all watching him with furrowed brows and he reckons they’ve been watching him pace up and down the carpark through the window anyway. 

“Who was on the phone?” Kun asks. 

“My boss. You know the tsunami warning they issued in Yokohama? It’s apparently really likely to hit and he wants me over there in charge of covering it.” 

“That’s…exciting?” 

Johnny laughs, “It sounds morbid, but as a TV journalist it’s a huge opportunity. Natural disasters are terrible, but…” 

“Just don’t exploit them.” 

Johnny clutches his chest in mock offense. “What kind of man do you take me for?” 

“Hey, Mr Johnny?” Lele has a mouth full of chicken nuggets when he asks, “What’s a tsunami?” 

“I know this,” Hyuck announces proudly. “It’s a really big wave of distraction.” 

“Destruction,” Johnny corrects. 

“A really big wave.”  

“Des-truc-tion,” Lele sounds out carefully, and Kun runs a hand through the boy’s hair. 

“So,” he asks, “Will Hyuck’s mother be looking after him?” 

“Hm? Oh no, she’s on a business trip overseas. All month.” 

“Destruction,” Lele repeats. 

“Want me to take Hyuck while you’re gone?” 

“Would you?” Johnny shakes his head, “Oh no, that’d be too much. You’ve got your project implementation coming up. I can ask Doyoung and Taeyong.” 

“Destruction.” 

“Oh no, the project won’t be a problem. Lele’s friend from his hometown is going to be staying over along with his father, so they’ll be helping over the next few weeks.” 

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, Kun. I would offer to help you out instead, but…” 

“Destruction.” 

“Sicheng was due to visit anyway! The two of us go way back.” 

“It’s nice having close friends with children. Most of mine haven’t had kids yet.” 

“We’re at that age, aren’t we? Not everyone’s a parent quite yet.” 

“Destruction.” 

“Will you stop saying that?” 

They watch as Lele and Hyuck bicker over a new word. It was one of his favourite things to do – kids could say the darndest things. Right now, Hyuck was trying to tell Lele what he thought ‘destruction’ meant (“It means like, whoa! Everything’s in pieces! Exploded everywhere!”) and Lele seemed unconvinced (“How can a wave do that? It’d just make everything wet.”) and neither father bothered to correct either of them. From the corner of his eye he saw Kun watching them with an amused smile. He was glad they both felt the same way about Hyuck and Lele’s friendship. 

“Sicheng is my ex-boyfriend.” 

Johnny’s head whipped around to look at the other man. “What?” 

“We dated in college. Queer club. The hormones.” 

“Ah.” Johnny doesn’t fully know what to do with this information, but he can at least understand it. “Yes, I’ve, uh, been there. Done that.” 

“It only lasted about a year.”  

“Are you still…I mean, is there something still going on between you too? You seem to be close.” 

Kun let out a barking laugh. “Goodness, no! He’s happily married. I dated both his husbands too.” Kun added quickly, “Not his legal husbands, but they call each other that.”

“Oof. Your college dating life sounds hectic.” 

“I’m using dating as a loose term, this time.” 

“That makes more sense.” 

“Yuta and Taeil – those are Sicheng’s husbands – they can’t make it, or else you could have met them, too. Well. If you didn’t have to leave tomorrow.” 

Johnny raises an eyebrow. “I was supposed to meet them?” 

“I’ve met your friends, haven’t I?” 

Before Johnny can respond, there’s a yelp from right next to him and he turns to see his son’s face and hair covered in sweet and sour sauce. He jumps into action before realising it, deftly picking the packet out with one hand and reaching for a nearby clean napkin with another. Kun disappears in search of water and some cloth towels. Lele looks awfully guilty. 

“I didn’t mean to do it.” 

“Yes you did,” Hyuck sniffs. 

“I’m sure you didn’t mean it, Lele.” Johnny throws the boy a smile and reaches over to squeeze his hand. The relief on Lele’s features is instantaneous. “I just want to know what happened.” 

“He blew sauce at me.” 

“I blew sauce at him.” 

“ _ Blew _ sauce?” 

“It was on my nugget,” Lele explained. “I wanted to blow on his face but the nugget was in the way.” 

“You blew on the nugget!” 

“Keep your voice down, sunshine. Why did you try and blow at him, Lele?” 

“…He was annoying me.” 

“See?! It was on purpose!” 

“Here.” Kun returned with some towels in hand, passing them over to Johnny. “It might be best to go to the bathroom. It’s clean.” 

Johnny squeezed Kun’s shoulder in thanks as he led Hyuck out to bathroom and got him cleaned up. He fielded off Hyuck’s protests of “he shouldn’t have done that!” and “yuck, it’s all over my shirt!” and chastised him about making such a big deal about what he knew was an accident. 

“He didn’t know it was going to go everywhere.” 

“He should have.” 

“He’s younger than you. He doesn’t necessarily know everything you do yet. Time’s like this, you should be telling him what he did wrong, not getting mad.” 

“I can’t stop being mad.” 

“I  _ know _ , sunshine. But that temper of yours is going to land you in a tough situation one day. When you feel you’re getting too mad, tell your brain to stop it, okay?” 

“Does that really help?” 

“It really does, Hyuckie. Every single time.” 

...............

The tsunami that ended up hitting Yokohama is minor, and Johnny is back home within five days. He’s a little disappointed he didn’t get the big headline story he wanted, but glad the death toll was zero. Some people on the coast did loose their houses, though. He stayed back to help rebuild a little. 

It means Sicheng is still in town when Johnny returns, and Kun insists on having him stay for dinner when he comes to pick Hyuck up. (“You must be famished anyway. I can’t believe you built a whole community centre! With your hands! Like that!” “I wasn’t building it, it was just fixing things. And there were lots of others.” “Still! You used your own hands!” “What else was I supposed to use?”) Johnny isn’t sure he’s ready to meet anyone new, not coming straight off of a flight, but one of the things he’s learnt about Kun over time is that the man is persistent and stubborn and gets what he wants. 

Sicheng doesn’t look anything like what Johnny expects him to. He’s a little bit taller than Kun, angular, conventionally beautiful. Renjun, his son, already seems to be turning out the same way. Dinner is over, the kids on the floor, engrossed in a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos, and he, Kun and Sicheng are spread out over the couch with glasses of the Merlot Cabernet, 1998, that Sicheng had got in Bordeaux and Kun apparently didn’t want to open till Johnny came home. (He pretends the subtle smirk and the slight halt in Kun’s ministrations are illusions. He doesn’t have time to dwell on any of it.) 

“I’ve never had wine straight from France before,” Johnny comments. “I’ve only ever had local varieties that are a few years old.” 

“Sicheng and his husbands are alcoholics,” Kun says. 

Sicheng throws Kun a look. “ _ Wine connoisseurs. _ And we don’t drink cheaply.” 

“What do you do for a living?” 

“Yuta and I are models. We take turns being stay-at-home dads,” Sicheng grins. “Taeil’s the real breadwinner at home. He manages a few restaurants and his father owns a hotel empire.” 

Johnny blinks. “Wow, Kun. To think, you could’ve married into that.” 

Kun smacks his arm, “Stop it.” 

“Are you living along, Johnny?” Sicheng asks him, “I thought you are, since no one else is taking care of Donghyuck, but I don’t want to assume.” 

“I am. I’ve been divorced about two years now. She has custody but I get to see Hyuck often enough.” 

“It must difficult for him, though. Having to move between two parents?”  

Johnny coughs. “We try not to make him think it’s an abnormal situation. But he’ll be seeing me less once he starts school. My ex lives on the other side of town and it’s just inconvenient for him to be over so often.” 

Both Sicheng and Kun remain silent, and Johnny doesn’t blame them. It’s still a few months before Donghyuck is in kindergarten, but he dreads the day it happens. The only thing getting him through a childless house has been knowing he could see his son again soon. Once the boy’s busy Monday to Friday, Johnny’s time with him gets reduced to one weekend a month. He’s going to miss Hyuck, Hyuck is probably going to miss him, and he’s going to be miserable about both of those things. 

“Your house,” Kun finally says. “You bought it just for Hyuck, didn’t you?” 

Johnny scratches his hair. “Well, mortgage isn’t too far away considering I have all this money I won’t be spending on a family. Might sell it and move into an apartment.” 

“It just sounds to me like both you and Kun need to get out more,” Sicheng states. He takes a long sip of his wine (and he must be on his third glass in the past hour, Johnny isn’t sure how he isn’t tipsy). “I know it’s about time Kun started dating, at least.”

Kun groans, “Sicheng…” 

“It’s been nearly four years. Maybe if you tried dating, you’d move on –” 

“I’ve moved on.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yes.” 

Johnny feels like he’s intruding on a very personal conversation. It’s not that he and Kun still aren’t friends, it’s just that they weren’t at a point where they were discussing any more than their children, managing stress, their careers and assorted personal projects. Anything deeper than that was still out of bounds, and Johnny feels wrong even if they brought it up in front of him. 

“Is it a  _ someone _ that did it?” 

Johnny feels sick. He focuses entirely on the swirling red liquid in his wine glass as he twists it around, completely missing the quick glance Sicheng throws at him. 

“It’s only natural that I would at some point, wouldn’t I? Like you said, it’s been four years.” 

“Of course. But she…well –” 

“She died, Sicheng.” 

“Yeah.” 

“And I can’t bring her back. And I miss her, but there’s no point in dwelling, is there? The present holds too many opportunities for me to be stuck in the past.” 

“Well said,” Johnny adds weakly, turning his head in Kun’s general direction but not really directly looking at anyone. Some corner of his vision notes Sicheng’s stare boring into his skull. 

Kun nods. “It’s a terrible thing to say, but.” He bites his lip. “If she hadn’t passed away, then Chenle might not have been here. And maybe it’s because I have the opportunity to know Chenle now, but I know who I’d pick.” He coughs, “I know I shouldn’t think about that kind of thing, but it passes through the mind sometimes.” 

As a divorced man, it doesn’t hold as much weight for Johnny to say he’d choose his son over his wife any day. But the intense attachment a parent could have to a child seems to be universal. He places a gentle hand on Kun’s shoulder. “It’s understandable.” 

“It is,” Sicheng muses. “But…Kun, surely it’d be easier to have someone around helping you look after Chenle.” 

Kun laughs quietly and Johnny wants to tattoo the memory to his brain. “That’s what Johnny is for.” 

...............

Kun’s big project has finally rolled out and he no longer has to stay late nights and weekends at the office. To celebrate, Johnny takes everyone on a road trip to the nearest quiet beach. It was a last minute idea and because of that, Johnny couldn’t find a nice beach for the kids to run around in, but all of them are happy with their cozy two double bed motel room. It’s air-conditioned and neat; Johnny figures he can’t ask for more for something he booked the night before. 

It’s late by the time they’re settled in. Johnny is busy getting Hyuck’s pajamas and a clean set of underwear out of their shared luggage, Kun is cooking a quick dinner in the kitchen and the two boys are huddled around an iPad on the bed Johnny and Hyuck are supposed to share. Their eyes keep drooping. 

“Lele,” Johnny calls, “If you’re falling asleep then you should shut the iPad off and get in your bed.” 

Lele shoots up, opening his eyes wide. “I’m not tired!” 

“If you go to sleep now, I can tuck you in.” 

“Later.” 

Johnny sighs. “Need any help in the kitchen, Kun?” 

“I’m only making a simple ramen, but if you could chop these spring onions up for me?” 

Johnny is amused at how Kun thinks he’s only making a simple ramen when he made a point to buy fresh vegetables the minute they got into town. He helps him anyway. Kun is such a good cook that lately, he’s even been cooking for him, regardless of whether Hyuck is home or not, regardless of whether Lele is staying over at Johnny’s. Sometimes he just shows up at his doorstep with a crock-pot saying “I had some left over!” when it was so obviously far too much food to just be left over. Johnny appreciates it. 

Half way through chopping those onions, Kun taps his shoulder. “Look. They’re fast asleep.” 

Johnny looks up to see that, indeed, both Hyuck and Lele are passed out, sprawled across the bed in two different kinds of starfish positions, the iPad forgotten on Lele’s chest. 

“They’re so sweet,” Kun coos. 

“Yeah. I should wake them up for dinner, shouldn’t I?” 

“Oh no, let them sleep. They must be pretty tired. They’ll wake up if they’re hungry.” 

“You’re letting them miss dinner? Are you feeling okay?” 

“They ate so much after lunch, remember? And all those snacks in the car. They can have this for breakfast if they don’t wake up.” Kun squeezes his shoulder. “But you should eat. You’ve been driving all day.” 

They eat in mostly silence. They’ve already spent an entire day in the car together and they’re both exhausted. Johnny had driven the entire way and Kun found it difficult falling asleep in cars, and between the chaos their kids created there was barely any time to rest. 

By the time they’re done, Lele and Hyuck still haven’t gotten up. Johnny and Kun stand at the edge of their bed, arms crossed. It’s already half past ten. 

“I could carry him to his own bed and tuck him in.” 

“Lele’s a light sleeper, I’m sure you’ve noticed. He’ll wake up.” 

“There isn’t really a couch for me to sleep on.” 

“You don’t have to assume you’d be the one on the couch, you know.”

“You’re the one with the big project that just got done with.” 

“Why don’t we just share the bed?” 

“…Share the bed.” 

“Yes?” 

“You’d have to buy me dinner first.” 

Kun smacks Johnny in the chest. “Stop it! Neither of us are sleeping on the floor, and we’re not waking the kids up.” 

It was stupid. It was  _ so _ stupid. It wasn’t like Johnny hadn’t shared a bed with friends before, and it wasn’t like he was uncomfortable with it. But considering he and the ex had stopped sharing a bed long before they separated, it had been so incredibly long since Johnny had shared a bed with an adult that he was interested in and he’d been living alone in his big house for long enough now and maybe he was overthinking things. But he didn’t want to touch a man by accident and somehow ruin their relationship. 

“Sure,” he said instead. 

It isn’t until they’re done clearing out the kitchen and tucking themselves into bed that it hits him exactly what’s going on. And when Kun pulls at his arm and wraps it around himself, sidling up to Johnny’s side, it  _ really _ hits him. 

“I’m cold. Is this okay?” 

It was  _ so _ okay. 

...............

Johnny swears there’s a weird energy between him and Kun ever since the road trip, but the other man acts like nothing happened and sometimes Johnny isn’t sure he didn’t dream the whole thing up. 

But then he remembers that they never spent time together alone anymore. Kun bailed on the first few lunch breaks they usually pend together and Johnny doesn’t feel like he should keep pushing for it. He still comes over to Kun’s for dinner but the either one or both of the kids is always around, and their attention is always centred on them. Kun isn’t brushing him off or ignoring him at all, but there’s a clear difference. 

Johnny decides not to raise the issue. He doesn’t want to create some kind of conflict that doesn’t actually exist. 

He’s finishing up voicing the last of his packages for the eight o’clock. He’s cutting it a bit close – it’s currently 7:52pm and his story is the first one out of the headlines, and the editor for the night is probably cursing him – but Yunho dumped five major stories, one of which was a major developing story, on him tonight and Johnny feels like he’s done the most he can do. Just as he’s sent all his files to the editor, his phone buzzes with a new message. (Boy, is he glad it didn’t go off while he was recording.)

It was from Kun: ‘You finish work around now right?’

Johnny typed out a quick ‘yep’ and after a brief pause, ‘Need me to look after Lele?’ 

‘Actually can you drop him at Taeyong and Doyoung’s?’ 

And then, ‘I was thinking we could go out for dinner. The two of us.’ 

Johnny stares down at his phone for a good fifteen seconds before he decides to start packing up his stuff. He sends a ‘sounds good’ once he’s walking out of the station. 

He calls Doyoung, and when Doyoung doesn’t pick up he calls Taeyong. “I’m going to be dropping Kun’s son at yours tonight. Very soon.” 

“…Why? Hold on, let me put you on speaker.” There’s a thud as Taeyong (probably) drops the phone and some cursing and some chastising on Doyoung’s end. “Hey Johnny.” 

“Hey Doyoung. I’m dropping Kun’s son off at your place tonight.” 

“Kun’s son? Okay, we don’t really mind look after him, but why…?”

“Kun and I are going out for dinner.” 

“Oh my god. Taeyong, Johnny has a date.” 

“He  _ what _ ?! I’m paying attention now!” 

“Taeyong’s cooking dinner at the moment, he isn’t being rude.” 

“Why’s Taeyong cooking dinner at fifteen past eight?” Johnny asks. 

“Second dinner,” Taeyong explains. “You have a date?” 

“It’s not a date. Kun and I need some time away from children, that’s all.” 

“Uhhh huh. Isn’t that time usually spent alone as opposed to with another person?” 

“Sounds like a date to me,” Doyoung agrees. 

“It’s not a date, just dinner.” 

“Ah yes, a ‘just dinner’ between two men who happen to be attracted to men, who also shared a bed once.” 

“You did  _ what _ ?!” Taeyong screeched from some far away place and Johnny rolls his eyes as Doyoung descends into laughter. “What did you do?” 

“It was the road trip. Lele and Hyuck fell asleep together so instead of waking them up, we just took the other bed. It’s no big deal.” 

“Johnny told me they cuddled and haven’t talked since.” 

“Doyoung!” 

Taeyong let out one loud bark of laughter. “Ha! This is so college! Can we live vicariously through you? I haven’t felt like this in a long time.” 

“God, yes,” Doyoung breathed, “I just want to feel young and in love again.” 

“Oh, Doyoung, do you remember that day you asked me out? We were in Vernazza, on that path with the flowers and looking over the ocean –” 

“I’ve never felt happier than that since. Not even at our wedding.” 

“Our dopamine levels were so much higher back then.” 

“Can you guys shut up?” Johnny hissed. “Anyway, to wrap up, I’m dropping Lele over at yours for an hour. Good, thank you.” 

Kun’s still in his work formal when Johnny arrives, but his tie’s off, the sleeves are rolled up and the top few buttons are off. Johnny feels overdressed, but all concerns are thrown out the window when Lele pounces on him. 

“Mr Johnny!” 

“Hey, kiddo,” Johnny growls, lifting the boy up over his shoulders. “Heard your dad got tired of you and is trying to kick you out.” 

“Johnny!” 

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” 

“Dad loves me too much to be tired of me,” Lele states confidently, having somehow moved to sit on Johnny’s shoulders. 

He shares a look with Kun. “Smart boy.” 

“He’s my son, after all.” 

Johnny grins. “You both ready to go?” 

“Yeah, what’re you waiting for?” Lele asks cheekily, grabbing at Johnny’s hair. 

They end up running late because Johnny can’t stop wrestling with the boy and Kun can’t stop laughing. 

...............

“You know,” Johnny says, once dinner is over and Kun has paid and they’re getting into Johnny’s car, “You should get started on editing your short stories now if you want to send them off to a publisher. You have actually have time in your day now. I’m happy to look after Lele some weekends if you need to get rid of distractions.” 

“Mm. That does sound like a good idea.” 

“It’s just that editing can be the biggest chore. I’m sure you know how it is.” 

“Yeah, you’re right. I should do it when I’m not almost at death’s door.” 

“Yeah. Are we getting dessert somewhere, or is it straight home?” 

Johnny isn’t really focusing on Kun when he asks, so he’s not sure what’s going through the man’s mind when he doesn’t answer. He figures he’s looking through his phone or his social media, but when he looks up at him after putting his keys into the ignition, Kun is staring right at him. “What?” 

“Why haven’t you asked me out yet?” 

Johnny suddenly finds he wants to look anywhere except directly at Kun. “Did you want me to?” 

“I thought I made that pretty obvious.” 

“Oh.” Johnny curses himself at how weak his voice sounds. He doesn’t really know what to say, and he feels like he has no control of whatever is going on right now. “Could our dinner just now count as a date?” 

Kun chuckles, “Sure.” 

“And we can still go to this nice dessert bar I know nearby? That could be part of the date too?” 

“That sounds wonderful.” 

“Good.” 

Johnny finally looks directly at Kun again, and the way he’s biting his lip, and decides it’s okay if he acts on a sudden urge to kiss him. Softly at first, then more urgent, more needy, open-mouthed, and suddenly Kun is halfway onto his lap and – 

“Ow!” he yelps. “Gear stick.” 

Johnny has to bite back a whine as Kun removes himself and moves back into the passenger seat. They’re both a little out of breath and Johnny thinks that if things hadn’t been interrupted, they might’ve had sex in his car. 

“I can, uh,” Johnny adjusts his collar and smooths down the front of his shirt, “I can ask Taeyong and Doyoung to keep Lele overnight. If Lele is okay with that.” 

Kun groaned, closing his eyes. “Yes,  _ please _ .” 

“I’ll call them so you can talk to him on the phone first.” 

“Thank you.” 

Kun manages to sneak in a few gentle butterfly kisses on Johnny’s neck before Taeyong finally picks up. 

...............

Kun makes the announcement far too casually one evening while doing the dishes. “The landlord’s taking the house off lease.” 

Johnny frowns. “Off lease? You have to move out?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Shit. How soon?” 

“About two months.” 

“That’s not a long time at all.” 

“I know.”

Hyuck and Lele look up briefly from playing with their Ninjago before going back to it. Johnny suspects both know exactly what they’re talking about, but they’ll find some way to sugar-coat it eventually. 

“Do you know where you’re moving to?” 

“Well, ideally, I would have had more time to look for somewhere to buy. Might have to be further out, since the inner city is too expensive.” 

Johnny fishes his phone out of his jeans pocket. “Have you considered looking at houses on the other side of town?” 

Kun pauses briefly. “That’s quite far away, isn’t it?” 

“It is, but it’s not a bad time to be making a move like that since Lele isn’t in school yet.” 

“I suppose. But…” Johnny looks up to see Kun frowning. “It’d be quite far away from you, and neither I or Lele would be happy with that.” 

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Johnny says carefully. He throws a glance towards the kids and lowers his voice. “I’ve been considering moving closer to Hyuck’s school for a while now, so I’ve been house-hunting.” 

“Oh.” Then, “You never said anything.” 

Johnny wraps his arms around Kun’s waist, and Kun’s instinctively go up to rest on his chest. “I was nervous bringing it up because I didn’t really want to move alone.” 

Kun’s eyes widened. “Oh yeah?” 

“I wasn’t sure how to ask you. But this seems like a pretty good opportunity.” 

“It  _ is _ convenient.” 

“And like I said, if you have to move then it’s best to move now, before Lele starts school.” 

“What about your mortgage?” 

Johnny shrugs. “I might just be a bit short on money for a while.” He waggles an eyebrow, “But it’ll be easier on the wallet if we got a civil union and a shared bank account –” 

“I’m not marrying you for a home loan, Johnny.” 

Johnny laughs, burying his face in Kun’s hair and taking in the scent of his tea tree conditioner. 

“Are you and Uncle Kun getting married?” 

Johnny and Kun part to find that both boys have made their way into the kitchen, staring up at them curiously. Johnny unwraps himself from his partner to pick Hyuck up. (Who is now far too old to be carried like he used to be when he was one, but Johnny doesn’t care. He’s strong enough to do it, and Hyuck will always be his baby.)

“No, we’re not getting married right now.” 

“Okay. Because calling Uncle Kun’Dad’ would be kind of weird.” 

“It’s not that weird,” Lele remarks. “Mr Johnny is just like a dad anyway. Hey, can you pick me up too?” 

“Lele,” Kun says sternly, “You’re going to break his back.” 

“I can do it,” Johnny says, and follows through – because he is, in fact, perfectly capable of carrying both boys with no issue. “Tall people privileges.” 

“Shut up. You’re just big in general.” 

“ _ Big. _ ” 

“You know I love size jokes, but we’re in front of the children right now.” 

Johnny bites his lip. “Here, take my phone from my hand. Unlock it.” He waits for Kun to unlock the phone. “Check that out.” 

“Ooh, this does look nice. It looks like a cottage.” 

“Three bedrooms, two bathroom. Two garage spaces, too. It’s a little on the expensive end, but it’s got a huge backyard and it could probably fit that vegetable garden I always wanted –” 

“I haven’t got to the backyard yet, but look at that kitchen! The storage!” 

“Yeah, I thought you’d like that, since you overstock on everything. It’s just been renovated and everything. Same with the bathrooms. The ensuite to the master bedroom has a hot tub.” 

“No wonder it’s pricey.” 

“It’s really not, for that area.” 

“Where is this?” 

“It’s about five minutes from Hyuck’s school.” 

“You’re moving to my school?!” Hyuck screeches in Johnny’s ear, making him wince.  

“ _ Near _ it, sunshine. And there’s no guarantees yet.” 

“You’re moving closer to me?!” 

“That’s the plan.” 

“Oh my god, dad!” Lele gasps, reaching over to tap on his father’s shoulder. “Dad, you gotta move in with Mr Johnny.  _ Please _ . Hyuck and I can play all the time.” 

“You could even go to the same school, “ Johnny adds. 

“No way! Hyuck, we’re going to be in the same school! I can go on those monkey bars you told me about!” 

“Now, now, I haven’t said we’re moving yet.”  

Chenle whined, “But we have to move anyway so you might as well move somewhere good!” 

“Lele can meet my mom,” Hyuck agrees. 

“Hey,” Johnny says loudly, instantly silencing the two. “If Kun says no, then that means no. Okay?” 

Kun’s response is so quiet, Johnny barely hears him. “I haven’t said no.” 

“You haven’t said yes.” 

“But I haven’t said no, because it  _ is _ convenient. And we have to move out anyway. And,” Kun reaches up to kiss Hyuck on the forehead, “I would like to see this guy more often.” 

Hyuck giggles. “But don’t you want to see dad, too?” 

“Eh, he’ll be around, I guess.” 

Johnny ignores the snide commentary. “So you’ll do it?” he asks, “You can take all the time in the world to think about it.” 

“I don’t need time. Lele and I would be honoured to move into you.” 

Hyuck and Lele’s collective “yes!” turns into a chorus of “ew” and “gross” once Kun stands on the tips of his toes and Johnny leans down. He smiles into the kiss as both children grab at his hair and demand to be let down. 

“Okay,” he huffs, plopping them down on the ground. “I think it’s time you two got ready to go to bed.” 

“No, can we stay up a bit later?” 

“It’s Saturday!” 

“You can stick around if you want to see the two of us be gross a little bit more.” 

Lele taps Hyuck on the shoulder. “Race you to the bathroom? Loser has to drink toilet water.” 

Kun’s smile morphed into a horrified expression. “What? No –” 

“You’re on!” 

When Kun returns half an hour later with a different shirt and his hair looking like a bird’s nest, Johnny’s done with the dishes, cleaned and disinfected the entire kitchen and set out a bottle of wine and two glasses, tentatively, because he imagines Kun might need one if one of them really  _ has _ dunked their head in the toilet bowl. 

He’s right. 

“So, who ended up drinking toilet water?” 

“Lele,” Kun sighs, slumping into his bar stool. “Of course. Hyuck’s bigger and faster.” 

“Aw, and he got a head start too.” 

“Ugh.” Kun rubs his temples as Johnny pours him half a glass. 

“So, about moving in…” 

“Mm?”

“You’ll really move in with me? With us?” 

“I said I would, wouldn’t I? It makes sense.” 

“That it does.” 

Kun reaches for Johnny’s hand after he’s slid his glass across the counter. “And I want to.” 

Johnny lets go of the breath he was holding. “That’s also helpful.” 

“Actually, when the landlord told us the news today, my first thought was suggesting we should move in together. It’s been, what, almost a year since we started dating?” 

“That’s not a long time.” 

“It’s long enough. You can separate from your wife during that time.” 

“Thanks for the reminder.” 

“Besides, you’re a good father to Lele.” Kun squeezes his hand. “And he loves you.” 

Johnny beams. “I love him, too. And I love  _ you _ , too.” 

“I know.” 

“And,” Johnny licks his lips, “About marriage…” 

Kun immediately drops Johnny’s hand. “No. We’re not ready for that.”

“No, I  _ know _ that. I just mean in the future, would you consider it?” 

Kun blinks. “Of course. If it comes to that.” 

Johnny takes Kun’s hand back in his and twines their fingers together. “It will, because our future home loan depends on it.” 

“Are we really going to get that house? Shouldn’t we be looking at more options?” 

“What other options do you need?” 

Kun’s about to retort back when they hear the pitter-patter of feet coming into the kitchen, and a very sleepy Hyuck has walked in, rubbing one eye. “My nightlight isn’t working.” 

“I’ll take this one.” Johnny places a quick kiss on Kun’s forehead before following Hyuck to his bedroom (formerly the spare bedroom, but no one else sleeps there anymore). Lele has also made his way out into the corridor. 

“Why’s Hyuck awake?” 

“His nightlight’s off,” Johnny tells him gently. “Go back to sleep, Lele.” 

“Can you tell me a bedtime story?” 

“Sure. I’ll be there in a bit. Get back in bed.” 

“Will you tell me a bedtime story too?” Hyuck asks, “I miss your stories.” 

“I can’t be in two different places at once.” 

“I can sleep with Hyuck and then he won’t be scared. And we can both hear a story.” 

Johnny’s close to pulling his hair out because yes, the spare bed is big enough for the two of them, but they shouldn’t be making a habit out of sleeping together like this, especially when they’ve only just started to wean Hyuck off of his big stuffed teddy, when he sees Kun show up at the other end of the corridor and lean against the wall. 

And Johnny thinks he can do this forever. 

...............

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/singledadjohnny)   
>  [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/singledadjohnny)


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